More to the Story
by bonesmad
Summary: The Last Battle ended but there is still one Pevensie left to live on Earth. What could happen next for the lone Daughter of Eve.
1. Chapter 1

Lucy's favourite place in the world was her grandmother's house. It always had been and it probably always would be. So when her parents told her they were going to stay there while their kitchen was redone she packed almost immediately.

The old house just outside central London was fascinating. As was the woman who lived in it. It was the type of house where you could spend hours upon hours looking around it and never see it all. There was something to see where ever you looked. Pictures and paintings. Boxes of postcards and collectibles and thousands of books in every spare corner that could be found.

Her mother said it was hard for her Grandmother to let anything go because of what had happened to her family, they had all been involved in a train crash. Her parents, brothers and sisters all wiped out when she was only twenty-one. Ever since she has clung to whatever memories she could. She had raised Lucy's mother, Cassidy, alone after her husband died so their family was quite small, but oh so precious.

Her Grandmother had written books for a living, beautiful books about far off lands, Kings and Queens and talking animals. Stories about love and loyalty, fairness and integrity. Tales of magic and friendship. She had grown up with the 'Tales of Narnia' her Grandmother wrote and she simply adored them. That was probably why she loved the house so much. It was full of Narnia.

"Darling." The door was opened and she was immediately swept up into her Grandmothers arms.

"Hello Gran!" she beamed and hugged her tightly. She stepped inside as her mother followed on closely.

"Cass dear." She watched on as her mother was swept into a loving embrace, still smiling.

"Hello Mum."

"And Michael. Welcome." Her father stiffened slightly as he received a hug too.

"Hello Susan. Thank you very much for having us."

"My pleasure. You know I love having you all here."

She looked admiringly at her Gran as her father pulled in the luggage. To her it had always made sense that stories so full of love could only be written by someone so beautiful. She was so unlike every other grandmother she had met. Striking blue eyes that looked like they'd seen the world ten times over, and a beautiful full smile that carried something sad in its corner no matter how happy the moment. She had the most beautiful head of dark hair streaked with grey that fell in waves down her back when she left it loose but was usually pinned up smartly with wisps around her face. Everything about her was graceful and gentle.

"Darling are you going to stay in the hall all day?" her mother asked, breaking her out of her trance.

"Let's go through to the living room." Lucy ran ahead into the room and hopped onto her favourite chair. "Oh I have a surprise for you!" Her Gran announced holding up her finger, throwing Lucy a smile she moved to the corner of the room and opened up a box.

"Oh!" Lucy kneeled up on her chair.

"It's the first copies of my latest book!"

"They came through quickly Mum." Cassidy sat in the other arm chair.

"I know. My publisher must be looking for the next one to come faster." She laughed.

"What's this one about Gran?" Lucy asked, eyes wide eager for the new story.

Handing them both copies her grandmother stood at the fireplace between them and said.

"It is about Queen Lucy and the Tree Folk."

"The trees that helped the old Narnian army defeat the Telmarines?" Lucy said excitedly.

"Exactly the ones." She nodded.

"Congratulations Mum" Cassidy said standing. "Shall I go help Michael?" she didn't wait for a reply but began to leave, clasping her mother's shoulder as she left.

Cassidy had loved her mother's stories too, still did, but not with the vehemence her daughter. To her they were simply the stories she had heard before sleeping, told to hopefully induce good dreams. To Lucy they were tales of wonder, and a world of enchantment.

Lucy shared a knowing smile with her grandmother then looked down at the cover running her fingers over the title, then down to her grandmother's name, written in beautiful curly script. Susan Pevensie. The purple cover was just as beautiful as the others, she opened it quickly and turned the first page knowing what she'd find.

" _My Darling Lucy,_

 _Another chapter to add to your dream world._

 _May you follow my other Lucy and dance with the Nymphs_

 _With all my love,_

 _Gran."_

"Oh thank you." Lucy beamed hugging the book to her chest.

Susan Pevensie smiled lovingly at her granddaughter, the girl could help but make her smile. It had been such a joy when Cassidy had told her that they wished to call her Lucy, but it was an even bigger one when the child had grown up to be just like her name sake. Full of wonder and joy, who showed kindness to all she met Susan thought her granddaughter was the most exquisite creature on the planet and she'd met some fascinating ones.

She watched the ecstasy in her young face as she read the handwritten message. Lucy Pevensie-Smith love Narnia every bit as much as her grandmother did, and she hadn't even been there.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ow!" her father squealed clutching his foot.

"Oh dear Michael are you alright?" Susan asked coming into the living room. Lucy looked up from her book and surveyed the scene.

"He stubbed his toe on those boxes Gran." She said nodded to the pile of cardboard boxes beside the

"Oh I am so sorry" Susan moved over to help him sit down. "I was looking for a journal and brought these down from the spare room. I keep meaning to take them back up." Lucy watched as her father rubbed his toe and tried to smile.

"Its fine really, my own fault." Michael Smith was a good man, a loving family man, but he was a little too straight laced and proper to ever feel comfortable in Susan's house. An accountant for a big firm in central London he believed that everything had a place and minimalism is the best life rule as it aids organisation. Lucy loved her father greatly but there was a lot more of her grandmother in her, and she enjoyed organised chaos. She had overheard her father saying to her mother once that the house reminded him of a museum. A creepy monument to the dead. Lucy thought it was like a museum too, but a fascinating one.

Susan was so calm about everything that you couldn't really call her life chaos, but you could tell Michael thought she lived in a world of her own.

"You know Mum we could help organise the place a bit for you!" Cassidy said walking in. "I'm finished lecturing and Lucy is on summer holidays. You seem to have a lot more around than I remember."

"Thank you darling but I will clear it all. I brought some stuff from the country again and just haven't found a spot for everything yet."

"The country?" Michael asked, looking up at his wife who was now frowning deeply.

"Mum you haven't been out there in years. I didn't think…"

"I know I know. I don't like to go there. but last week for some reason, I found myself in the car headed out there."

Lucy was well and truly intrigued now.

"What is in the country Gran?" she asked, managing to break into the intense stare between the mother and daughter.

"Oh. I suppose you wouldn't know would you." Susan said, laying a tender hand upon her head. "Well you know that I was evacuated from London during The War along with my brothers and sister?" Lucy nodded, she'd asked about those years many times. "Well we were sent to stay with a Professor. Professor Kirke, in his country estate. He became a dear, dear friend of my families. My brother Peter even studied with him for a time."

"What happened him?" Lucy quizzed.

"He also died in the train crash that took my family." Susan said calmly, the sadness in the corner of her mouth growing slowly. "Along with his friend."

"Oh, I'm sorry." This was what Michael usually added to the conversation when the train crash was mentioned. Susan waved a hand.

"Well when I received money for my first book, and I was a lot more than I ever expected, I bought the estate and the small cottage in the same area that he had to move to in later life. I intended on using it as a holiday home when Cass grew older but I found every time I went there I grew sadder. The memories of my time there were not yet comforting."

A sombre stillness fell over the room.

"Why haven't you sold it?" Michael said after a few moments had passed. Lucy saw her mother sigh silently. wrong question.

But Susan looked at him with no sign of contempt.

"I couldn't. It has to stay with friends. The Blitz was one of the worst times in my life. But also one of the best."

With that the conversation was over.

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Lucy sat at the foot of her bed leafing through a large photo album she had found at the bottom of a chest in the room, working through it backwards so not to damage the fragile binding. She knew her grandmother didn't mind her looking through the room, she hid nothing in the house. It had been her mother's when she was growing up, and before that it had been her grandmothers and her younger sisters. Now whenever she stayed it was Lucy's. Little had changed over the years, a few postcards and pictures graced the walls from Cassidy's youth, and a few boxes of books had crept into various corners.

Lucy ran her fingers over a beautiful photo of her mother as a child. She sat in a pram in the back garden, smiling up at the photographer. She had a vague recollection of seeing these pictures before but they intrigued her immensely, leafing through her mother's childhood was fascinating, she made mental notes of questions she wanted to ask. As she reached the front few pages her mother grew smaller and smaller. Then she disappeared altogether and another woman appeared. A beautiful woman with a stunning full smile and bright engaging eyes. It was her grandmother. She should have recognised her immediately, the same shaped face and the same calming expression. It was in that moment Lucy realised there was next to no pictures of this version of her gran with her mother, but then again, she grasped the face that there would have been no one around to take those pictures. She found herself reaching up and pulling down a strand of her own hair to match the photograph before her. She looked quite like her grandmother really she'd inherited her colouring anyway. Blue-green eyes that changed quite like the sea and pale skin that could become near translucent in the winter, Cassidy had a more olive complexion that drank up the slightly sign of sun light and browned beautifully and the richest brown eyes to be seen. It was funny how all that had skipped Lucy. Her father had sandy brown hair and grey eyes, the only thing she'd inherited from him was his slightly up turned Irish nose and ginger tint through her dark hair when the sun shone. She turned to the very front page and found herself in awe of the first photo that she saw, it was her grandmother sitting under a tree with a book on her lap. She had clearly caught unaware as her face was completely natural half turned to the camera, but it was the smile across her face that caught Lucy's eye. It was full and beaming all across her face, without a trace of anything else. She looked the happiest Lucy had ever seen her. it was as she rested a hand gently on the photograph when there was a rap on the door.

"Yes?" she called out.

"What treasures have you come across today my dear?" Lucy smiled up at her grandmother as she entered. "Oh photographs, very good choice." She nodded, easing herself down beside the younger girl. "I thought you'd seen all these before dear."

"No not that I can remember. I definitely haven't seen this one. You look so happy."

Susan brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and leaned over for a closer look.

"Ah yes, I remember this…" Lucy saw the sadness creeping into her face. "It was in the garden here, before I planted the flower bed around the oak tree. Before your mother was born."

"It's beautiful." Susan nodded. Lucy let the room go silent a moment before she asked.

"Did my grandfather take it?" Susan looked back up at her, clearly slightly startled.

"Yes, he did. he was learning how to work my new camera and he took that. He insisted on developing it." she let the lightest laugh pass from her lips. "He said I was most myself when I thought no one was watching and when he realised there was an easier way to capture a likeness than sketching and oil paintings he became quite exasperating." The smile still on her face showed it was meant in jest.

"What happened to him?" Her smile immediately faltered.

"You know what happened dear…" she started as she stood up. "…He left this world." She straightened her dress and placed a hand on the door handle. "I must go ring my illustrator with a new concept." She said quickly exiting the room.

Lucy let loose a little sigh. she had asked only a handful of time about him over the years, and that was the answer she always got. She had known before not to ask. Now she found her self wondering more than ever, who was this man.

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Cassidy hummed lightly to herself as she picked up another plate to wash, she was distractedly looking out the window watching a butterfly that had been flying around the garden for the past ten minutes, it was the most beautiful shade of blue she had ever seen.

"Mum?" her stare was broken as Lucy came over beside her.

"Hello dear."

"Can I help dry?" Cassidy recoiled slightly.

"What? You're offering?" Her daughter laughed blithely.

"I finished my book." She shrugged. Cassidy handed her the towel and turned back to the sink.

"Was it good?"

"You haven't finished it?"

"Not yet. But I do know the story. It used to be one of my favourites."

"It was lovely." Cassidy nodded.

"I will read it"

"Mum, can I ask you something?" Lucy said after a few dishes were dried.

"There it is." She smiled picking up a glass and submerging it in the sink.

"Well I want to ask about…" Lucy suddenly found her mouth had gone dry.

"About what sweetheart?"

"About your dad." She said looking down at the floor suddenly.

"My dad?" Cassidy's hand fell slack and a frown started to move across her forehead.

"Yes. I, well I realised I don't know anything about him. I know he died before you were born…"

"I don't know much more Luce." Cassidy took the towel and dried her hands, gesturing towards the table. "You've never asked about him before?"

"It never dawned on me to ask before until today, I was looking at photographs with Gran and I just…"

"I don't know much Darling. You know how open and honest Mum is about everything. When she didn't talk as openly about him I sort of knew I shouldn't ask. It clearly caused her pain, so I let her tell me what she wanted to I guess."

"Weren't you curious?" Lucy was clearly dissatisfied with her mother's answer.

"Of course. Who wouldn't be? But I had Mum, I was so loved. Always, and my curiosity could never overcome the idea of causing her pain."

"Do you even know his name?" Cassidy blinked rapidly.

"Father." Cassidy's face fell to the table as she thought. "He was always father. I was named after him I think. Though I'm not sure…"

"I can't understand how that doesn't drive you crazy." Cassidy took a deep breath. This was one of the most difficult conversations she'd ever had with her daughter.

"I think over the years I learned enough. Mum told me just enough. I know he was a good man. I know my mother loved him very much. I know my aunt and uncles loved him like a brother. And I know I have his eyes, kind eyes." This peaked Lucy's interest.

"You've seen him?"

"Yes. Mum has two photographs. I'm sure she'll show you some day. You just have to let her do it at her own pace. I'm sorry I can't tell you more."

"I love our family. You know I do. It's just lately I feel something… something I can't really explain. Just like something is unsettled. And I thought maybe filling in the missing pieces would help." With this confession her mother frowned.

"Are you homesick?"

"No, no nothing like that! I love it here." Lucy said quickly. "It's not a bad unsettled. Just a feeling something is coming. It's a good feeling." The girl nodded. There was silence between them for a moment.

"Well then. If nothing's wrong you can help me finish washing up." Cassidy smiled and threw the towel on her head.


	3. Chapter 3

Susan closed her eyes and turned her head towards the sun. Taking a deep breath, she basked in the moment. The house was busy again just as she liked it. The house had always been too big for one person, yet she couldn't give it up. They were here now and the quiet was expelled from her home. For now. Then it would come back again. Like it had all those decades ago, just after the accident.

 _The silence was all consuming. From the second the police man rang the doorbell; to sitting in the dark living room three months on, her constant companion had been the silence._

 _There had been many people around in the aftermath, uncles and cousins and friends. She was sure they had all been around as she organised a mass funeral. As she sat through meetings with lawyers who told her that her parents had left everything very set up for her. As she buried her family in the ground._ _Now there was no one. She had relations yes, but her family was all gone now. She was alone._

 _The house seemed so much bigger than it ever had in her childhood. The rooms echoed as she walked and no matter how big a fire she built the place never seemed warm._ _The nights and days moved seamlessly into each other, she barely noticed it happening. She ate what she could when she passed the kitchen. There was no set time for meals. If she had been any more alert she would have questioned where the fresh food appeared from._

 _She couldn't recall most of her hours but every so often the cloud would clear and she would find herself in a different room of the house holding something tightly, never fully aware of how long she had been there, or even how she had gotten there._ _There was only one thing Susan was sure of, and that was that she had not cried yet. There was a lot of pain but no tears._

 _Yesterday she had awoken from the haze and found herself sitting at her dressing table, her favourite lipstick in hand. She looked down at it, puzzled. She had not touched her makeup in weeks. It seemed so silly now all of it. The parties and the new pastes for her face. Time wasted. Time she could have spent reading with her father or sowing with her mother. Time she could have spent enjoying her brothers and adoring her younger sister. Time she would give anything to have back._

 _Today she was curled up at the foot of Lucy's bed, clinging to a large scrapbook like a child would its favourite toy. There was a knot in her stomach and her throat seemed closed over. She took a few gulps desperately trying to fill her lungs. Her whole body was beginning to burn, yet her eyes were dry._ _She folded over, almost involuntarily. It was only when she heard the crunch of Lucy's precious notes that she was able to gain control again. She gasped viciously and slowly began to breathe again. the book lay open in front of her, pages falling haphazardly in every direction. She began to pick them all up piece by piece, recognising her own handwriting in the letters her young sister had cherished. There were dozens of drawings too, pages and pages of sketches and coloured works. Sea sides and castles, forests and many, many animals. She pondered for a second, as she had many times before, about her funny little sister and her imagination. But the more she looked the more she was drawn to them all. To the ones of a resplendent golden lion especially. She began to tidy it all away when another painting caught her eye. The detail was stunning but it was very different to all the other illustrations. It showed a grand ship, Viking like in its appearance, crashing through the waves. Her fingers ran lightly over the name written in Lucy's all too familiar squiggle. The Dawn Treader._

 _A breeze moved lightly over the pages lifting them all briefly. As she looked up to see had the door opened, Susan heard the lightest whisper in the air._ _"_ _Susan…"_ _It was almost inaudible but she knew what she heard. Someone calling her name in an empty house. The hairs on her arms stood on end and a chill overtook the room. The sensation was gone in a few seconds but it definitely stayed with her._

"Mum?" another voice calling her name woke her from the memory. "Mum are you with us?" she opened her eyes to see Cassidy smiling down at her. She returned the gesture and moved up on the bench to make room. "I made lemonade." Her daughter said holding out a glass.

"Thank you dear."

"What were you lost in."

"Just thinking about how nice it is to have noise around the house again."

"Thank you again for having us. Michael is having the kitchen completely overhauled, it's a bit of a nightmare."

"You know I'd have you all here forever." Susan flashed a grin. "Although I don't think Michael could cope." Cassidy laughed lightly.

"He really doesn't mind it here. It just has a hard time showing it."

"I know, I know."

"You do seem to have a lot more stuff around the house lately thought Mum."

"I know, and I know how much it bugs you. I just got this feeling last week that I needed something. Like I would need something. But I will find spots for it all. Maybe take it back out to Professor Kirke's. Lucy might like to see it."

"Yes maybe…" Cassidy was frowning.

"What is it?"

"Lucy was actually just telling me that she was having a feeling like that too." Susan's ears perked at that.

"She was?"

"Yes, I think… well I think she's just getting caught up in all the photos and things you've got around."

"She was asking about your father." Susan said picking up a leaf from her lap.

"Yes she asked me too…"

"You were about this age when you asked more too."

"Well he is… a big question." Cassidy looked up as her mother stood. Lucy's questions had once again stirred her own.

"I think I should trim back the fuchsia. What do you think." Cassidy sighed almost silently.

"Maybe a little. But the garden is looking beautiful. We should have lunch out here tomorrow." Susan smiled again as she felt her daughters arms wrap around her waist. "I love you Mum." Came a voice from the chin resting on her shoulder.

"I would hope so." She grinned and cupping her grown child's face she kissed her cheek gently.


	4. Chapter 4

Lucy was stunned at how silent the house was once everyone left. She had never really been left there alone before, but her book had been more inviting than a day shopping for storage boxes with her mother and grandmother. She closed the book and turned it over in her hands. It was one of her favourites of all the books. High King Peter and the Giants. She had them ranked in her head, but the first story of the set would always be her favourite, her copy of Narnia was so well read now that she could tell you which pages were loose. And which corners had worn away. She knew the lives of High King Peter, King Edmund, Queen Helen and Queen Lucy better than she knew anyone. She loved that this was how her grandmother had chosen to remember her siblings through these characters. Showing their best qualities and traits, and making them relatable by revealing their faults. They had all been so young when they died that Lucy found it tragically romantic that they would live on forever like this. She knew she would have loved them had she met them. The proud and fearless Peter, the erudite and straight talking Edmund and the gentle loving Lucy. Queen Helen though was something else entirely. Lucy felt like she did know here, from her name she had always presumed that she was an ode to Susan's mother, but her personality was so like Susan herself that it made Lucy wonder. It would make sense for the character to be based on her, the stories of the four siblings. Maybe she had just felt it would be vain to call herself a queen too.

She shivered as a chill made its way up her spine. The room had gotten colder while she was reading. Uncurling from her chair she put the book down and slipping back on her slippers, made her way up to her room in search of warmth.

The walls of the stairs were lines with all the drawings of Narnia, sketches of the forests and sea sides. Castles and lots of different creatures all framed and mounted along the walls. Her favourite was a tiny drawing of a fawn and a lamppost, or Mr Tumnus. She stopped on the second to top step to look at it, as she normally did. Smiling at the sketch her eye wandered to the one next to it. it was a painting of a ship on the sea, The Dawn Treader, but it wasn't the subject that caught her eye, but a tiny scribble down the bottom corner.

 **Lucy.**

She could barely make out the light pencil mark but it definitely said her name. She looked down the stairs to confirm that every sketch and picture was the same style. She'd always thought an illustrator had done the images. Just presumed. But now it seemed that her namesake had been the one to draw them all. Which meant they'd all come from before the books were written.

A cool breeze washed over her again and it made her loose her train of thought. Running the last tens steps to her room she grabbed a baggy jumper and pulled it on, she was pulling her hair through the neck when she heard a loud bang above her. She was out the door in a second looking up the stairs to the loft, unaware of how cautious she should probably be.

She climbed the narrow stairs slowly, ears listening carefully. When she got to the landing she saw a top window banging gently on its frame. She relaxed slightly and locked it up, glad to know what had caused the noise. The loft consisted of a few small rooms that her Gran used as storage. She looked around to check all the doors were closed and nothing else would slam, that was when her eyes locked on the door farthest away from her. The odd door which had a corner cut off to accommodate the roof. The room was full of boxes, books and trunks of clothing. She'd been in there many times before. Yet she found herself drawn towards it, opening the door she let it swing back to open wide.

"Wha.." she gasped as it opened to reveal an empty room. The light streamed in the window lighting up the empty room showing the dust dancing in the draft she'd created. Everything was gone except a tall sheet covered object at the far side of the room. Her eyes latched onto it and she moved quickly into the room. A corner of the sheet had fallen down showing her the smallest bit of dark wood. As she walked across the room she felt a little bump under her foot. Looking down she shook her foot, only for what looked like a bluebottle falling from the bottom of her slipper. She barely gave it a second's notice though and continued on her way.

Her hand reached up and gripped the thick sheet tightly, giving it a single mighty tug she stood back as it dropped like a snow from a mountain to the floor revealing a tall dark wardrobe. A very old wardrobe from the look of it, from the over decorative edging to the spotted looking glass on its door. She reached up again, her hand heading for the latch

"Lucy?" the voice cut through the haze she'd entered unknowingly.

She dropped her hand and turning she almost fled from the room, barely remembering to close the door behind her.

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Cassidy placed the last box down by the table in the office and sighed, her age was beginning to show through an ache in her lower back. It was as she was stretching it out that she noticed the lowest shelf of her mother's bookcase. Tattered and worn sat the first editions of Susan Pevensie's early books. Cassidy's original collection. Back pain forgotten she crouched down onto the floor and ran her fingers over them. Ten books in total, all published before she left for university. All in hardback and all drenched in memories. Moving back, almost automatically, to her most visited book.

 **Prince Caspian: Return to Narnia**

It had been her favourite story when she was growing up. She had asked for snippets of it countless nights growing up. In fact she nearly knew it by heart. She never really questioned her love of it, yet the second she had been shown the only two photographs in existence of her father, she'd put the pieces together. The dark haired, olive skinned Telmarine prince with the foreign accent and boyish smirk was based on her father. This book was her mother's memorial to him, like the first was to her siblings. When she saw her own brown eyes staring up at her from someone else's face as her mother handed her a photograph with shaking hands everything changed. Everyone made pictures of characters in their head as they read, but it was terrifying how accurate she'd been in her imaginings of the King of Narnia.

It had taken her a while to accept that the faceless man who still held a large part of her mother's heart had actually had a face all along. In fact, it was something that she was only now considering telling her own daughter.

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	5. Chapter 5

_The living room was the only room that didn't suffocate her, in there she could sit and read and pretend nothing had changed. If she tried hard enough she could pretend her mother was in the kitchen and Lucy was in the garden with the cat. The boys would be out and father would be at work. It was so easy to escape for a while._

 _Today was different. She'd felt uneasy from the second she'd awoken. Nothing could settle her. She closed her book and set it down on the table. She'd read the same passage ten times at least and finally admitted defeat. She stood slowly and stretched her weary limbs, her arms wrapped around her automatically trying to cling to some warmth, but failing. She noticed in passing how much further her hand seems to get around her shrinking body, but the thought was interrupted by a loud crash of thunder from outside. She shivered slightly as she looked around. The crash had come from overhead, she had felt it right down in her stomach. Thunder storms were not a strange occurrence in central London, the thing that startled her most was the fact that the sun was still streaming in the bay window from outside. She could not see a cloud in the sky._

Susan chased the memory away as she sat down in the living room in her favourite chair. She could hear Lucy making tea in the kitchen, she released the breath she was subconsciously holding. She had felt the chill in the air the second she had walked into the house, something had shifted. She hadn't felt like that since that day almost forty years ago. When she'd seen the young girl coming down from the attic the hair on her arms had stood straight.

"Gran, here you are." Lucy stood before her holding out a steaming cup.

"Thank you my dear. Just what I need."

They sat in silence drinking slowly. Susan could tell that Lucy was shooting her glances every few seconds, clearly there was questions on her mind. "Lucy dear, you'll get eye strain dong that."

"Sorry Gran. I just…"

"Yes?"

"I was just wondering. All those pictures and drawings on the wall. Who drew them." It wasn't the question Susan was expecting at all, but then again when did life ever deliver the expected.

"My sister. Lucy." She said simply.

"All of them?"

"Yes. When she was around your age, and younger."

"Before the accident." Susan raised her eyebrow slightly, knowing that was more of a statement than a question. "I mean of course before I just never… did you write your stories together then?"

"No my dear. We lived them. In our childhood." Susan had decided long ago that there was a difference between lying and bending the truth. She always tried to give an honest answer to all questions.

"All four of you?"

"Yes, of course Edmund was really the writer of the family, he wrote reams and reams of stories and verse about our times together. I could never compare to him." she smiled.

Lucy's brow was slightly furrowed as she mulled things over, this was a lot for her to grasp. Her grandmother's siblings were becoming more real and less fiction.

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Cassidy placed the book back on the shelf and stretched her legs out one by one. She'd gotten lost in thought reading the familiar passages once again. She had forgotten just how much she loved the tales, once Lucy had begun reading for herself she had really fallen out of the habit of enjoying them.

As she sat on the floor of her mother's office looking up at her life's work she recalled the countless hours she had spent over the years in Narnia herself. It was a fondness she had regrettably grown out of. One she now badly wanted to regain.

She was raising herself up from the floor when something caught her eye. A flash of pure white from the farthest corner of the top shelf. Quickly and carefully she pulled a chair over from the desk and climbed up onto it. Pushing aside dust covered boxes and long empty vases she reached back, raised on her tiptoes and reached around unable to see. After catching nothing but dust at first her fingers finally touched something cold and smooth. Grasping it she gently lifted it down into view.

She was more than startled to find a small ivory horn nestled in her hands, with a shining flower at one end and a roaring lion at the other. She turned it over again and again, trying to recall any memory of it. finding no such memory she raised it higher and for a spilt second thought about lifting it to her lips to hear its sound but decided against it at the last second. Clutching it closely she moved towards the living room.

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"What is that in the small attic room." Lucy finally said, easing the rising tension in the living room.

"A wardrobe." Susan replied.

"A wardrobe?" Susan nodded. "But it's… important."

"Very." A smirk grew across Susan's mouth, slowly but steadily. That sense she'd had all week seemed to be coming to a head. Lucy was poised to ask another question when Susan's head shot around towards the door.

A tiny shock ran through her body and every hair stood on end. Something else in the house had shifted.

She stood up and looked around the living room, Lucy's gaze followed her movement.

"Gran…" she started only to be interrupted by her mother.

"Mum what is this?" all eyes spun around to Cassidy who stood in the doorway.

Susan felt her stomach knot the second she spotted that glint of white. Her mouth dropped open but no words managed to form.

"Mum what… what is it?" Cassidy said again. "Why do I feel like I should know it."

Lucy frowned and stood up to join them.

"That's Queen Helen's horn." She said quietly. "The gift she was given. It must be a prop or…"

It was then that Susan realised the time had come.

"No. It's my horn. It's my horn from my time in Narnia."


	6. Chapter 6

"Mum don't be so cryptic." Cassidy said moving further into the room. "What…"

"The wardrobe." Lucy said loudly. "Gran you said you lived the stories in your childhood. Were you serious?"

"I can tell you both something I am incredibly proud of. I have never lied to you about my life."

"What are you saying Mum."

"I'm saying every story I have told you is true." Susan said slowly and clearly. "Narnia was my home."

"Mum don't joke…" Cassidy started to say as her mother's words washed over her.

"The wardrobe." Lucy interrupted quietly. "It's the wardrobe." Susans eyes lit up as the connection was made.

"What wardrobe?" Cassidy looked between the two of them.

"In the attic."

"I brought it here from…"

"The professors…" Lucy finished the sentence. "…everything…" she shook her head. Lucy grabbed her grandmothers hand and jumped slightly in excitement. "I knew it! I knew they couldn't just be stories."

"Lucy don't…"

"Mum! She's Queen Helen!" she shook her head furiously. "Queen Susan." She corrected.

"No Lucy just…"

"Once a King or Queen of Narnia always a King or Queen of Narnia." Lucy interrupted her as well. Her excitement was now bubbling over and her grin was spreading wider and wider.

Cassidy was having a very different reaction. She was starting to get angry.

"Mum tell me what this is." She said holding out the horn in front of her again.

"Mum why aren't you listening. It's all…"

"Don't be silly Lucy it can't…"

"Mum are you really telling me this doesn't feel right?" Lucy's face fell slightly.

"I…" she was lost for words.

"I know you must be feeling a million different things right now, I know this is a lot to understand and take in. I don't expect you to take it easily"

Cassidy just stared hard at her mother, her mind running a mile a second.

"I made the decision the day you were born to only tell you about this, about Narnia, if it looked like you were being called."

"Called?" Lucy asked.

"Transported to Narnia, like we were. I was sure I would know if that was happening, but I knew that would probably never happen. My Narnia is dead."

"Dead…." Cassidy muttered.

"Time runs differently in Narnia, you know that. Hundreds of years pass for one of ours. Things change."

"Why… how can I…" Cassidy frowned "Why now?"

Susan turned to look at Lucy, leaving a heavy silence.

"A change is coming. The past few weeks I have felt movement, the wardrobe called to me again. that's why I brought it from the professors."

"A movement? Is that… is that what I've been feeling Gran." She put a hand to her stomach. "like a funny pull here."

Susan nodded, but Cassidy only felt more unsettled.

"I have never felt anything like that." She said mutely, her mother's attention was brought straight back to her.

"I thought you did. A long time ago. You were only around eight. The age Lucy was when she first discovered Narnia." She smiled a little. "You started having dreams where you woke up laughing or shouting. You used sheets upon sheets of copy books, drawing pictures that looked just like Narnia, like places you had never been to. I was sure you were being called. It made sense you would be since…" she stopped short "…since it had happened before. but nothing came of it. it all settled down again. This time though it is stronger."

"I just can't..." Cassidy hung her head. "…I don't feel anything."

She looked up again as a warm hand took her cheek.

"Your father didn't either. It just hit him, never crept up." Cassidy watched her mother's smile widen.

"My father?"

"Yes. He travelled between worlds too, but he never felt it coming."

"Who…" the knot in Cassidy's stomach tightened. "…was he."

Susan turned and sat back down in her chair, waiting for her daughter to do the same. When she got the hint she pulled the footstool up close and sat on it.

"You know who he is." Susan said gently. Lucy lent forward.

"What…"

"It's him." Cassidy cut her off. The sadness in Susan's smile deepened as she nodded

"Who!" Lucy said excitedly.

Cassidy turned to her daughter, tears starting to fill her eyes.

"Prince Caspian." Cassidy whispered.

/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/

 _The second crash had the hair on her arms standing straight. Her head whipped around towards the back garden and her feet quickly followed the train of thought. When the third boom came she realised it didn't sound like thunder anymore. Maybe it never had. It sounded like a lion's roar._

 _She moved through the kitchen quickly and her hand was on the back door handle when she realised what it truly was. When everything came rushing back._

 _"Aslan…" she whispered almost silently. She rushed out into the garden and froze as she saw the bushes at the far end swaying violently. The leaves all around were blowing erratically and as she began to step closer to the movement, now aware of the lack of sound._

 _When the trees started bending in a silent wind she looked up to see that there still wasn't a cloud in the sky. When she heard something crack her eyes snapped back to the moving bushes, her heart was racing. Dare she hope._

 _"Aslan?" she said louder, and as strongly as she could. She was barely a foot from the bushes now when a reply came._

 _"Susan?" a heavily accented voice hit her. She was completely winded when the source finally emerged and stood before her._

 _"Caspian." Her voice broke and he darted towards her and wrapped her up in his arms before she could even finish his name. She melted into him instantly, his body quickly warming her shivering form. He was stooped into her, his face finding the crook of her neck his new beard catching her off guard for a moment. Her hands reached up and her fingers wove into his hair, longer than she remembered, pulling him even closer than he already was, terrified she would soon wake up staring into an empty space._

 _"Is this real?" she breathed into his ear after a few still moments. "Are you really here?"_

 _"I believe so." He replied, fingers now digging into her skin._

 _"How…" she could barely make words now. He loosened his grip and stood up tall again, looking at her properly. She felt a lump in her throat build at the sight of his dark eyes._

 _"I… I don't really know. Lucy…" he replied but she cut him off._

 _"Caspian... Lucy's dead. They're… they're all d…dead." She stammered the broken sentence out. Her chin trembled and her eyes began to fill._

 _He nodded slowly. His hands clasped on her arms._

 _"I know Susan. I know." He pulled her in for another hug, resting her head on his chest. "Lucy told me."_

 _She shut her eyes tight, trying to listen to everything he said and trying to ingrain his smell into her memory._

 _After another silent few minutes he pulled back again._

 _"Lucy came to me last night. She told me you were alone. That you needed help." He said calmly. She didn't say a word. Details were for another time. "Then this morning in the palace garden..." he took a deep breath. "…Aslan called to me and I followed." A smile graced his face, but hers broke down._

 _"They're all dead." She repeated tears now filling her eyes completely._

 _In that moment it happened, months of pent up emotions finally came to the surface and rushed forth. She finally cried, warm tears flooded down her cheeks as he wrapped her back up in his arms and pulled her close. It was strange to say that she felt an immense sense of relief wash over her as she let the tears flow freely._


	7. Chapter 7

"Did he know about me?" Cassidy asked slowly, trying to process both her mother's words and her own mounting questions.

"No." Susan said quickly.

"Why did he go back?" Cassidy continued.

"His time in Narnia wasn't through. Though it wasn't a choice."

There was tears in both of their eyes, threatening but not yet spilled.

"Did you ever see him again?" Lucy spoke quietly.

They both turned to look at her. Susan took a deep breath

"I see them all every night. Every time I sleep I am back there with them" her back straighten slightly as she sat up. "That is where the stories come from. I write them all down so…" she stalled.

"So what Mum?"

"So I won't forget. I can't forget again." Lucy watched in astonishment as her grandmother because every inch a queen before her eyes.

"Why not." She asked naively.

"Because the last time I forgot I was left behind."

Cassidy felt a tear slide down her cheek as her mother's voice broke.

 _/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\_

" _You're so grown…." He said staring at her intently._

" _It has been eight years since you saw me." She replied beginning to feel self-conscience under his gaze. "I was a child when you last saw me."_

" _You were not a child." He shook his head. "You have lived many lives. Your soul was grown when we met."_

" _Much use it is to me now." She muttered "You are much changed yourself." He smiled and nodded. "You are every inch a King." Now it was his turn to blush. "How long has passed in your time?"_

" _Just over four years." She frowned and sat back down at the table across from him._

" _That doesn't make sense how can it have been less time… I presumed hundreds of years had passed. That you would be…" her voice cracked again, he automatically leaned forward and held her hand._

" _Dead." She nodded mutely. "I don't think our times match as much as you are used to. I think I have been brought from my time as well as from Narnia."_

" _Why?"_

" _It has been mere weeks since I had Edmund, Lucy and Eustace on my ship." He said softly. "Yet you tell me it has been months since they…"_

" _It's been years since Lucy wrote anything about the Dawn Treader."_

" _And last night…" she felt his grip on her fingers tighten. "…last night Lucy came to me in my dreams."_

" _Lucy…" Susan couldn't help but smile tightly. "…darling Lucy."_

" _She came to me and told me you needed someone. That you were… that you were still on earth and that you needed someone."_

" _I forgot. I forgot it all. Forgot you all." She whispered, leaning towards him. "and I was left behind."_

" _You're alive." He said standing up and walking around the table to knee before her, never letting go of her hand._

" _I'm alone."_

" _No. no you're not." He shook his head and wrapped his arms around her again._

 _/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\_

 _They sat side by side on a rug against the couch in front of the fire he had just finished building, the hours had passed and a chill had set in around the house._

" _I think I chose to." She said warily. "When… when Aslan told me my time was finished it seemed like the best way to protect myself." She continued more sure of herself. "After a while I didn't even have to try."_

" _But the others they must have tried…"_

" _I pushed them away. I didn't want to hear it." she stared down at her own feet._

" _But now…" he said gently coaxing her into looking back up. Her eyes met his and she couldn't help but smile._

" _I remember everything. It was like Aslan was calling to me. I will never forget again."_

 _He reached over and brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear._

" _I have thought of you so often my Queen." He said in barely a whisper. She felt the blood leaving her face. her heart began beating slightly quicker. "I thought I would never see you again."_

" _You were the reason I tried so hard to forget." She finally replied. "I couldn't understand how my time was over when I had just met you…" she laughed lightly. "But then again I was so young I thought I was…" she stopped. His brown eyes were warming her up more than the fire ever could. She suddenly felt more awake than she had in weeks. "…but now you're here in London and…"_

" _Who are we to question Aslan." He whispered._

 _Silence filled the room slowly as he pulled her close and she let her head rest against his chest. It was a completely different type of silence to the one she had sadly become accustomed to. It was a comfortable silence, the type she had been sure she would never know again._

 _It was a silence that allowed her to drift off into a peaceful, safe sleep._

 _/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\/\/\/\/\/\/_

 _She awoke slowly, every limb feeling too heavy to move. Her eyes were tired but her head was lighter than she could ever remember it being. She felt so rested it was almost unbelievable._

 _When she finally gathered some energy she noticed the warmth radiating from beneath her._

 _Her fingers moved slowly over the thick material she was cuddled into._

" _Morning" she heard a low rumbling voice._

" _You're really here." She replied sitting up slowly searching for his eyes._

" _I am not ashamed to admit I have had many dreams that you returned to me. But I never imagined being in your world."_

" _I am so glad you're here." She whispered. He grinned and leaned down and kissed her gently._


	8. Chapter 8

_She sat watching as he moved around the room picking up item after item._

" _And this?"_

" _A magazine." She smiled and pulled her knees up under her chin, settling in._

 _He'd spent over half an hour looking around the living room at items that would never be seen in Narnia. She was loving every second of it._

" _This?" her face fell as she saw what he was pointing to now._

 _She stood up and walked towards him._

" _This, this is my father's record player." She said in barely a whisper. Her fingers reached out and created lines in the dust before she moved to lift off the lid._

" _Record player?" he repeated._

 _She turned around to find him right behind her._

" _It plays music." She smiled broadly as his dark eyes scanned the machine. "I'll show you."_

 _Reaching down she pulled out a handful of records that hadn't seen day light in months now._

 _Flicking through she pulled out a frayed cover. "This was one of my favourites growing up." She said as she handed it to him._

" _Swan Lake Waltz." He read_

" _It's from a ballet." She nodded, watching as his face became puzzled again. "It's a type of dance. Very graceful and elegant."_

" _May we listen to some?" She hesitated slightly. "Only if you would like to of course." He continued._

 _She just smiled and nodded._

 _Fumbling slightly she pulled it from its sleeve and placed it on the player, gently lifting the needle and readying it._

 _The music started and she felt a shiver running up her arms as the familiar notes filled the room. She closed her eyes and was transported back to evenings dancing around the room with Lucy pretending to be ballerinas. Before she knew it there was tears in her eyes again. Her hands raised to cover her mouth as she swallowed a lump in her throat._

 _He stepped forwards and took her hands in his pulling her close he wrapped her up in his embrace._

 _Her sobs were lost into the warmth of his chest, a feeling of safety envelope her._

 _Caspian began to sway slowly, holding her close. They moved with the music until the knot in her chest subsided and she could breathe again._

" _It is beautiful." He whispered to the top of her head, following with the ghost of a kiss. She nodded gently._

 _The moment was broken by the loudest stomach rumble she had ever heard, he moved back quickly holding his hand up, "Oh Susan forgive me I…" he started to apologise only to be cut off by her._

 _She was laughing._

 _Susan Pevensie was clutching her stomach laughing._

 _He couldn't help but smile too. Her laughter was a joyous sound, and he was sure the world had been deprived of it for too long now._

" _Thank you." She said as she finished laughing. "Let's get some food."_

 _/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\_

" _She just appeared in my dream, looking the very same as the last time I'd seen her. She called to me and told me you were alone and needed me. I asked her how I could get to you and she smiled and told me…" he cut off she noticed the faintest trace of redness_

" _What?" Susan whispered._

"… _to think about how much I love you. To keep you in my heart and I would find a way."_

" _Oh…"she sat back in her chair._

" _I love you Susan. I don't believe I've told you that." She blushed furiously. Unsure of where in the kitchen to look. "It is quite the thing to declare but it is completely true."_

 _She put down the chunk of bread she was holding and smiled broadly._

" _King Caspian I do believe I love you too."_

 _He gasped a laugh and smiled even wider than before._

" _I never thought I'd hear you say that." He said sadly. "When you left me I didn't know what to do. I was so grateful to have things to distract me."_

" _Things?" She smiled and took his hands in hers. "That's what you call running a newly reunited kingdom? Things?" he laughed._

" _Does that not tell you how much I love you." He grinned and raised an eyebrow._

" _You were only a child." She whispered._

" _I'm not any more." He replied._

" _No you are not." She shook her head._

" _And I still feel butterflies every time I look at you."_

 _She stared into his soft brown eyes and felt her own stomach fill with flutters. She lifted their hands to her face and kissed his knuckles lightly._

 _/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\_

" _It works like this…." She twisted the silver knob and the water started. "… and that one controls the temperature if it's too hot turn it this way and if it's too cold the other way." She said switching it back off again. "There's towels there and soap and things there." she gestured around the room to each object. Then watched as he looked around the room again. "Will you be ok?"_

" _How different everything is here."_

" _You can say that again." she smiled and nodded. "But you get used to it."_

 _It took her a few seconds to realise he had begun undoing his tunic and was pulling it over his head. Her cheeks flushed red and she looked down to the floor "I… um I'll just…" she turned to leave and knocked off the door. Stilling herself she took a second and walked out of the room, face blazing red and heart pounding wildly._

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

Susan smiled slightly at the memory.

"I had to dress him in my brother's clothes and my father's shoes. It was the first time I had gone near their things, but the necessity made it easier. He couldn't stay in the same tunic forever."

She said still smiling. "His sudden arrival was the wake-up call I desperately needed, I had lost my family and in the aftermath, I had lost myself. Your father brought me back to life."

Cassidy looked up at her mother from the position she'd taken up on the floor, tears freely flowing down her cheeks.

"you kept this all to yourself for so long." she managed to say. "How?"

"How could I not? I didn't want to give you false hope that he may return. I could feel it myself that he would not. And he has not…" she trailed off.

Lucy looked between her mother and grandmother, completely unable to think of a thing to say. The two strongest women she knew were crying uncontrollably and she could do nothing to help them.

"How long was he with you?" Cassidy spoke again softly

"Quite a while." Susan nodded absentmindedly, memory taking over again.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

" _thank you." He smiled down at her and she patted the tie lightly._

" _You do know you don't have to wear this right now yes?" she smiled._

" _I do. But I asked what men in your world wear and I want to try it all. Although I cannot understand why you would tie a strip of cloth around your neck."_

" _Apparently, it originated as a part of soldiers uniform, does that help?"_

" _A little." he nodded, and smoothed it down again._

 _She took a step back and took him in._

 _If she had thought going through her brothers wardrobe had been difficult, seeing Caspian standing before her in their clothes was worse. He sensed her unease immediately._

" _I do not have to wear this Susan. We can…"_

" _You look very smart." She cut him off, swallowing the lump in her throat._

" _I may just fit in around here then." He said attempting to copy her accent. She smiled for a brief second._

" _I hope you are here long enough to fit in completely." She said earnestly._


	9. Chapter 9

"So he arrived out of the blue three months after the accident" Cassidy repeated. She was now pacing back and forth across the living room.

Lucy sat on the floor by her grandmothers feet watching her mother.

"Yes." Susan said calmly.

"How do you explain something like that to people?"

Susan laughed lightly.

"You always have thought practically. That never even occurred to me at the time." She replied. "All I knew was after being so alone the man I loved was beside me again. I had a reason to live again."

Lucy sighed.

"That's so beautiful." She whispered. Her grandmother reached down to stroke her head. "you had been apart for so long."

"Eight years yet. I was only fifteen when I met him. now here I was at twenty-two falling even deeper in love. It's a truly fascinating thing Lucy, falling in love. I have seen great magic in my time, but nothing as great as love."

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

" _Have you?" he asked, looking over at her holding the wooden spoon aloft. She watched as a drop of stew fell down, onto his arm._

" _Have I what?" she repeated distractedly._

" _Have you left the house."_

" _I have. Of course."_

" _when was the last time?" he asked gently._

" _My… My uncle collected me one day to go sign some papers."_

" _Susan. That was probably weeks ago. I have been here nearing four days now and no one has called save the postman…"_

" _People stopped calling a while ago, I don't really remember when. But they tried. But my aunt and uncle did try to get me out. To get me to come stay with them a while._ _Which was pretty amazing as they also lost a child. I had friends, girls from around, they all visited once or twice. And there was a delivery boy a few times I think. But I couldn't do anything. I couldn't leave here. And I just slept…" her voice trailed off. "…its like this black cloud fell and I couldn't get through." She smiled weakly at him. "The other day in the garden was the first time I cried."_

" _I will never pretend to understand your grief." He said solemnly "But I will do all I can to ease your pain." He turned back to his job, his vow settling heavily upon them both._

 _She stood and wrapped her arms around him._

" _You already have, more than you know."_

" _Why don't we go out tomorrow? Just do one thing."_

" _Do you think you're ready for to see London? The radio startled you this morning." She smiled resting her chin on his back._

" _I thought there was people in the kitchen. It is not that funny. Don't change the subject."_

 _She bit her lip and closed her eyes._

" _I would… we could…" she started, then pursed her lips. He put the spoon down and turned his head to face her._

" _Yes?"_

" _We could visit them?" she said softly. "I… I haven't been since the funeral." He nodded, then lifting her hand up he kissed it gently. She breathed deeply. "Are you sure you can cook? Cause it smells like it's burning." She said after a moment._

 _/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\_

" _Ready?" the voice cut through her reverie. She took one last look in the mirror and pulling her hat down a tiny fraction she turned. The breath was knocked out of her slightly as she saw him. Standing at the door in Peter's grey wool coat, and her father's brown shoes, he looked so perfectly in place. His dark complexion still as striking in normal garb as it was in his shining armour._

" _You look very well." She smiled. "Let's go."_

" _I'm quite excited to see your world Queen Susan." He said offering his arm to her. She took it smiling._

 _Clutching her bag she watched as he opened the door and led them out into the sun._

" _Let's take you on your first bus ride."_

 _/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\_

"He was so in awe of the world around him. it was the most beautiful distraction I could have possibly been given." Susan smiled grasping her daughters hand. "He asked question after question, trying to look at everything at once. I know its hard, but can you imagine seeing cars for the first time. Or shops and parks he was completely overwhelmed."

Lucy laughed

"How did you possibly explain it all?" she asked.

"As best I could. Caspian was an extremely open minded person, nothing scared him he was just fascinated."

"Did you take him to the cemetery?" Cassidy asked.

Susan nodded slowly.

"I did."

 _/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\_

 _She felt her knees shake as she took in the sight before her, the mound of earth that still rose high above the ground around it months after it was disturbed._

 _His arm wrapped around her waist and held her upright. She reached up to grasp at his coat._

" _It's ok." He whispered. "I am here." She leaned against him completely as tears filled her eyes._

" _I… they're in Aslan's country now. I know that." She muttered. "But we still buried them in the ground." She said shakily. "My family…" he held on as she bent down, placing her flowers gently on the earth. They stayed there crouching on the footpath for a moment in silence. The wind blew around them lifting the bottom of their coats._

 _The silence of the grounds surrounded them but with his steady warmth to lean on she felt more secure than she had in a long time. He didn't move or speak, letting her lead things._

" _Let's go home" she whispered after a few more minutes. "We'll have to come again soon to… to organise a headstone."_

 _He saw her clenching her jaw and drawing a deep breath._

" _Let's go home." She repeated standing up._

 _/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\_

"We took a different bus home so I could show him some sights of London." Susan said picking up her cup of tea.

They had moved to the kitchen when Lucy's stomach had growled loudly, and were sharing a plate of sandwiches and pot of tea.

"It really helped me, just that simple act of showing him London. It soothed me. He was like a child seeing… seeing a television for the first time." She laughed. "Eyes wide, mouth open the biggest smile." Her hand covered her mouth. "Reminded me of how I felt the first time I explored Narnia."

Cassidy reached over and held her daughters hand absentmindedly stroking her thumb.

"By the time we got home I felt like a new person."

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

" _It was magnificent." He repeated. "So tall and beautiful and that… that time keeper."_

" _Clock." She corrected._

" _That clock. Beautiful."_

" _I'm glad Big Ben had such an impact." She laughed looking in her bag for keys._

" _I love this place already." He said looking back onto the street. She smiled at him and unlocked door._

" _Susan dear? Is that you?" came a voice from through the hedge. Caspian tensed a the intrusion as Susan made her way onto the footpath._

" _Hello Mrs Wright!" she said as the elderly woman came into view._

" _It is you dear, I thought I heard you laughing but I thought I must be hearing things."_

" _No it is me." She said taking the woman's hand gently._

" _Well I've never been more glad to hear such a joyful sound." Susan's heart melted. "How are you my dear. I have not seen you for weeks. I have had Olivia drop some food in every now and again, we still have a key you know, but she never saw you."_

" _I am much better than I was I must say. Thank you for being so kind! I must thank Olivia when I see her."_

" _Your parents were good people darling, I would do anything to help them." It was then Susan felt the tears beginning to fill her eyes again._

" _Thank you…" she muttered attempting to continue smiling. She watched as Mrs Wrights attention was grabbed by the man coming towards them._

" _Oh who have we here?"_

" _Oh Mrs Wright, this…" Susan started at Caspian puzzled. He stepped forward and bowed lightly_

" _I am Caspian, Caspian Telmar." He said quickly. "Pleased to make your acquaintance." He continued reaching out for her hand._

" _Doretha Wright" she replied "likewise" the older woman purred as she shook his hand. "Caspian?" she repeated and raised an eyebrow at Susan._

 _Then the way it all must look dawned on Susan._

" _Yes Caspian, my…. My husband." She stuttered quickly. She felt his head whip around and look down on her. She saw the confusion overwhelm Mrs Wrights face. Her brain flew into action. "His parents are friends of my fathers, I stayed with their family last summer in Europe and…" she smiled up at him. "We married at the end of the summer when my family joined us." He reached down and took his hand. "Cas… Caspian is a marine engineer and shipped out and we intended… my parents intended in announcing officially when he returned." She swallowed a lump in her throat. "But…"_

" _I didn't receive any communication until a few weeks after and I came straight here." Caspian took over seeing her struggle._

" _Oh my dears, congratulations!" Mrs Wright pulled her into a hug. "A little joy is all the world needs."_

 _Susan smiled as the woman kissed her cheek then moved to kiss Caspian's._

 _\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\_

"It rolled off the tongue so easily that lie." Susan continued.

"Like one of your stories." Lucy interrupted.

"Ah but all my stories are true, this was just a fabrication."

"It was what society needed no?" Cassidy interjected.

Susan smiled at her daughter, she saw so much of her brother Edmund in her.

"It was what my heart needed."

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/

 _Susan clutched her sides in laughter as the tumbled through the door._

" _what is so funny!" he asked taking off his coat._

" _Caspian Telmar?!" she said_

" _What else would you have had me say?" he said sitting to remove his shoes._

" _Well I don't know…" she unfastened her own buttons. "Caspian the tenth, King of Narnia, Emperor of the Lone Islands, Lord of Cair Paravel, Lord of Telmar, Duke of the Lantern Waste, Duke of Galma and the Seven Isles, Baron of Ettinsmoor, Coun of the Western Marche, Emperor of Dragon Island."_

 _She draped her scarf across herself dramatically brandishing an imaginary sword._

" _It does sound much more impressive doesn't it." he smirked and rose to stand in front of her. "What about what you said?" he asked and she dropped her hand._

" _What about it?"_

" _Your husband?"_

" _I… I had to say that, how else could I explain to a seventy-year-old woman that I had a man staying in my house alone with me…" she said reigning herself in. "It is not acceptable."_

" _Well then. We had better resolve that." He continued reaching into his trousers pocket. Her head shot up and her ears began turning pink._

" _What?" she whispered._

" _Marry me my Queen."_


	10. Chapter 10

**There is absolutely no way of apologising for the delay in this story... so I'll just say sorry! And if you do continue reading.. Thank you!**

 **G**

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Lucy smiled as she watched the ring shine, slipping it on her middle finger, knowing it would be too big.

"He stood in the front hall, holding that. And I knew that things were going to be ok." Her grandmother said. Her eyes never leaving the ring. "It was his mothers, made for her by his father after their wedding. He said it was Edmund that had told him of our customs when they had been aboard the Dawn Treader." Lucy let it slide off her hand and handed it back. "I said yes of course, after a few seconds. Now before you call it compulsive Cassidy please remember I was a lot older than twenty-two really. I had lived an entire life in Narnia."

"Scores of suitors sailed the seas for a glimpse of the queen, and the chance to win her heart. None succeeded in even turning her head. No man could capture her heart." Lucy said almost to herself. Susan smiled broadly. "You said that in the first book. You lived your life as Queen without a King."

"It always felt incredibly vain to write such things, but that was taken from Edmunds journals. It was true though, they came from all over in the early days to woo Lucy and I. She found it even more tiresome than I did."

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" _You have not stopped smiling since we left the office." She said slipping her hand into the crook of his arm. They'd shared a lovely lunch in one of her favourite haunts in Covent Garden, spent mostly in a comfortable silence, punctuated occasionally with a light laugh or an affectionate kiss._

 _They walked slowly along the river, Big Ben watching down on them._

" _How could I not. It's my wedding day." He said simply, not taking his eyes off the river. "I have never been happier." A grin crept across her face, she was feeling quite similarly._

" _How sad you have deprived Narnia of a lavish celebration." She said absentmindedly, his steady pace faltered, and she looked up alarmed._

" _I was just thinking…" he stopped speaking._

" _Yes?" she questioned._

" _We have not thought about what happens if we go back." he said, his tone becoming graver. He stopped walking entirely and turned to face her. "We have not discussed the future."_

 _She looked away and spotting a bench moved towards it, her brain racing._

" _I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you today."_

 _She shook her head and smiled gently._

" _You haven't, and you're right. We should have spoken about this before. I think we got a little carried away."_

 _He sat beside her, knowing to just let her speak._

" _Caspian you know Aslan told me my time in Narnia is done. There's a reason I was left here. I wont be returning."_

" _You don't still believe that do you?"_

" _Aslan wouldn't say such a thing if it wasn't true." She reached up cupped his cheek in her hand. "Look, all I know is I was lost, alone and hopeless. Now I have love, I have happiness and most importantly I have you." his eyes lit up. "I want to live my life with you now. Take each day as it comes and enjoy ever second. Narnia may call you back and rightly so, you are the king. And if it does, and you go back then we will accept that and appreciate this time that we were given, no matter how long it will be. How does that sound."_

" _That sounds very wise and sensible my Queen. My wife." He grinned and kissed her for all the Southbank to see._

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Susan smiled at her daughter, Cassidy sat on the couch absentmindedly stroking Lucy's hair as she slept on her lap.

"We married that morning and for a few blissful hours I was relieved of my grief." She finished her train of thought.

Cassidy grinned widely, her eyes even lighting up.

"Did you…" she started but Susan raised a hand to silence her.

"I don't think Lucy would be too happy if I told you any more without her. I will continue the story in the morning." She stood gracefully and helped rouse the sleeping teen.

It was only when she closed the door to her own room and was left alone that her mind drifted back to that day over thirty-five years ago.

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 _She heard a light knock and moved to open the door. He stood there towering over her, The low light highlighting his strong features._

" _I… I couldn't wait any longer." He said his dark eyes looking pure black as they bore down on her._

 _She had left him sitting with a drink in the living room as she changed into her night clothes._

 _She had taken to sleeping in her parent's room weeks before and Caspian had taken her brothers room. The day after their engagement though she had summoned all her new-found strength and made it into her own room, she carefully pack away her mother's makeup and clothes and her father's glasses and books into a trunk before tucking it under the bed. She had pulled out the guest sheets and dressed the bed that morning before they had left the house. Now it would become their room._

 _She had known what would come next and she was equal parts excited and terrified. She had always imagined having that discussion with her mother before her wedding day, yes there had been talk amongst the girls about the ins and outs of it all, but she'd always oddly looked forward to that sure-to-be reassuring conversation with her kind, calm mother. Now she would have to discover married life on her own. Well with her husband._

" _Well I guess you had better come in." she said moving away from the door._

 _She stepped back towards the window and smiled at him shyly._

" _It's funny, I have faced armies of hundreds and devastating wars, but I have never been this frightened." She said in barely a whisper._

" _Frightened?" he echoed, worry crossing over his face. The expression cut through her as she realised what she said._

" _No! No not frightened that's not what I meant. I just… I don't know what happens now."_

" _What happens now my queen…" he said stepping towards her. "… my darling wife." She beamed. "What happens now is we find out together."_

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She sat on the bed and ran her hand across the throw, the same one they have lain on that night on the floor by the fire.

She thought of him often, every day in fact, but telling their story for the first time was a very different experience.

Reaching into her bedside table she pulled out her old journal and flicking through the well-worn pages she found what she was looking for.

Two crinkled photographs of Caspian along, one sitting in their garden taken on the same day as the one Lucy had found of her.

"Well my darling, what happens next…." She heard the door opening behind her, and turned "You're meant to be asleep Lucy."

"I couldn't settle." The teenager shrugged.

"Would you like to see your grandfather?" she saw Lucy's eyes light up, joy taking over her entire face.

"Yes please."

She patted the bed beside her lightly and pulled them out properly from the book. Not taking her eyes off them she passed the two of them across.

"Wow…" Lucy said under her breath.

"I always wonder what he'd look like now. Would he still have such dark features."

"Mum has his eye."

"An exact copy." Susan smiled.

"I like this one" Lucy grinned holding up the other photograph. Susan laughed,

"So do I, goodness he loved Big Ben. We walked there every weekend. When I saw the man with the camera on the bridge I had to get a photograph of him."

"Is this really all you have?"

"He didn't really like having his photo taken he preferred taking them. I wish now I had insisted more. But you must remember everything was so new to him."

Lucy nodded.

"I do have one more actually." Susan opened her notebook again and turning to the very last page pulled out a long strip. "We found a photobooth the day of our wedding." She picked it up delicately and held it out.

Lucy had never seen such joy on her grandmother's face as she did in the four small black and white photographs. They were sitting side by side, laughing in the first two, smiling straight ahead in the third and looking at each other in the last one.

"That is lovely. Why do you keep it hidden away?"

"Some days it hurts too much my dear. We agreed to carry on with our lives and that is what I tried to do."

Lucy nodded as a large wave over took her.

"Off to bed now young miss." Susan said kissing the top of her head. "See you in the morning."

"Goodnight." She smiled and made her way down the hall.

Lucy's head was whizzing but her body was succumbing to tiredness.

Suddenly a shiver ran through her as if a cold wind had blown the hall and she heard a distinct voice whisper

"Lucy."


End file.
